Watford 2 Middlesbrough 1 (05/10/2024)
10/06/2024 10:38 AM
1- “That was a bit better than Preston, wasn’t it?” grinned a fellow midweek traveller in passing on the way out.
And so it was. Much as, as described ad nauseam, you’ve got to enjoy the journey, it’s not all about the football (though you do, and it isn’t…)… there’s nothing quite like a glorious and ultimately unexpected victory like this one.
Further, as my co-editor has previously described, nothing else can drag you through such a wide gamut of emotions in a concise window and in unscripted fashion. Your afternoon, those of you in the stadium, will have been different from mine up to a point but… surely the shared experience took the home stands through apprehension, curiosity, frustration, boredom, irritation, surprise, excitement, jubilation, anxiety and relief. What a fine way to lead into an international break.
2- Apprehension, I guess, because Tom’s record so far is positive but not flawless. We desperately want him to do well. He is doing well… the body of evidence suggests that he’s really got something, far more than just a sentimental and/or convenient appointment of a popular ex-player. And yet… the season thus far has bucked and rolled and there’s a lingering fear that it’s the limitations exposed away from home that will prevail rather than the much discussed home form. Particularly in the wake of an outcome like Wednesday’s.
Curiosity, then because Tom has again shuffled the pack in the wake of an away defeat with six changes to the starting eleven. Several of those can be explained away… Tom Dele-Bashiru is clearly the man in possession, his contribution more evident in an absence during which Imran Louza didn’t stake a strong enough claim. With three games in a week, no surprise to see Festy and Larouci swapped out for Andrews and Sema as wing backs. The remaining three changes, then, saw Porteous, Ince and Jebbison in for Morris, Kayembe and Baah. Jebbison, like Baah, is only a youngster of course but otherwise it’s a trade-up in experience and savvy, perhaps, against a potent looking opponent who had brushed away erstwhile league leaders West Brom at the Hawthorns midweek.
3- The Frustration wasn’t long in coming. The opening minutes didn’t see us conceding early as so often, but there wasn’t an awful lot in it; Luke Ayling, who resembled a rampaging pirate once more throughout and at both ends of the pitch, dipped a ball straight into the box to find the head of Azaz, one of two clear beyond a static defence. He nodded narrowly wide, a fortunate escape.
The Boredom set in as Middlesbrough took control of the game and passed it to death. Essentially this is the Manchester City method, and demands utmost concentration if you’re playing against it. On the basis that it’s hard enough to keep your attention focused when watching it one can only imagine how hard it is on the pitch. Not knocking it tho, Boro were comfortably our most impressive visitors this season and were very good at what they did. Contributing to their ultimate failure here (other than their opponents, who we’ll get to) was Emmanuel Latte Lath, who had a prolific run at the end of last season but hasn’t netted since the opening day of this one and it showed. He looked willing but anxious, uncertain, and spurned Boro’s best attempt of the rest of the half with another header to an Azaz cross. Too often there was nowhere for Boro to go except sideways which is fine in that you keep possession but kept us in the game throughout.
The nowhere-to-go-but-sideways thing owed something to our own discipline, the rearguard once again marshalled by the exceptional Angelo Ogbonna; neither he, nor his partners in the back three, missed a beat, giving us a platform to break. It was an unusually “away game” first half performance but there was enough to provide encouragement; Ince looped a shot narrowly over after a helpful deflection to a Jebbison cross, Jebbison himself had the ball in the net but was pulled back for an earlier offside.
It was another disappointing performance from whoever-happens-to-be-leading-the-line-this-week, but perhaps provided more encouragement than Jebbison’s previous outings. We know that he’s an athlete, here he looked effective with the ball in front of him, running at the goal or beyond a defence. His decision making and final ball weren’t always perfect, but it was something, Less “something” altogether was the lack of physicality… bullied out of competitive situations far too frequently, his failure to get off the ground to contest aerial balls reminded me of a Wolves’ fan’s description of new signing Robert Taylor many years ago. “When he joomps in the air, you couldn’t get a ciggie paper underneath him…”. Needs to be read in a Wolverhampton accent…
4- Irritation, then, when Boro’s death by passing was rewarded ten minutes into the second half. Probably unreasonable irritation on my part… the probe-probe-probe thing had been withstood for the most part, Boro largely restricted to shots from distance and not many of them given their dominance of possession (62% in the end, more than that over the first 75 minutes). It’s harsh, then, to complain too hard the first time that the resistance falters and is penalised. A silly free kick given away, and then Sema somehow fails to interrupt a right-wing cross which subsequently reaches Edmundson who breaks the deadlock.
That felt like that, and the international break would have been a different prospect if it had been, with what would have been one win in seven in all competitions. The subs came quite quickly… first Baah and Bayo, then Kayembe and it’s worth re-emphasising the attacking options we enjoy from the bench. Nonetheless… there was no real prospect of what was to come. Baah looked positive, maybe, happily restored to a more comfortable, natural role. But we were hardly banging on the door.
What we had done, what earned us the possibility of getting a crucial break, was to stay in the game of course. To give ourselves a chance by obstructing Boro’s passing, by concentrating, by being disciplined. Resilient, again… much as there was a lack of that on Wednesday we’re made of tough stuff at home as shown by winning a game that we really might not have done here for the third time this season.
And it was a Surprise as the equaliser came from nowhere. As Ryan Andrews, who has much to learn but doesn’t lack belligerence or positivity, cuts across the face of the box slipped a pass to Kayembe there’s still no expectation, no intake of breath, no “go on then”. This is barely a shooting opportunity, he’s being closed down quickly and has no space to tee up a shot. For this reason and despite it entering the net far closer to the goalkeeper than either Kayembe would have hoped or that the albeit unsighted Dieng will be comfortable with, it was a terrific strike. The roof, rudely shaken awake, came off.
5- And in that instant everything changed. Boro’s players couldn’t believe what had happened. Nobody could believe what had happened… but you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Late in the famous 1987 Cup Quarter-Final at Highbury, George Graham’s miserable Arsenal side were once again surrounding referee Brian Stevens with Steve Williams at the vanguard, demanding a penalty for an imagined foul by Steve Sims on Niall Quinn… just as Luther Blissett was running off with the ball to put the score beyond doubt. Funniest thing I’ve seen on a football pitch… harsh to put this Boro side in the same box.
Nonetheless. Karma. World’s smallest violin. They’d suffocated the game with passing but hadn’t capitalised and now they’re struggling to keep up with changing events because they’re dead on their feet, Vicarage Road is wakened from its stupor and Giorgi, who has been a source of mischief throughout, and Baah and the others are running at Boro and they really don’t like it at all. Excitement, breathless excitement.
The winning goal is a thing of very great beauty. Ryan Andrews is involved again, his long looping throw isn’t really anywhere near Mattie Pollock but this doesn’t matter since the most centre-back of centre-backs launches himself at it like a human missile to win the knockdown and there’s Kwadwo Baah with an acrobatic volley and yes the defender should have been closer to him maybe but yes, that’s us looking like Manchester City and taking a small error, pulling it open and pouring through it. Utter jubilation in Vicarage Road.
Anxiety, then, as we hang on. I must confess that Vakoun Bayo’s saving header off the goalline completely passed me by at the other end of the stadium where my fingers were pressed into my scalp. Relief as Ryan Porteous triumphantly batters an opponent into the hoardings as the referee blows his whistle.
A quite remarkable, exhausting, fabulous victory, stolen from the hands of one of the best sides in the division. On the TV pictures I can see fans in the away end mirroring my stance at the other end from seconds earlier as the whistle goes, fingers pressed into scalps in disbelief. We wish them no great ill, there’s nothing wrong with Boro and they’ve had good days this season already, not least at the Hawthorns.
But we played one of the best teams in the division and stole a victory from them. And deserved to.
A good day.
Yooorns.
Bond 4, Pollock 4, Ogbonna 4, Porteous 4, Andrews 3, Sissoko 3, Dele-Bashiru 3, Sema 3, Ince 3, *Chakvetadze 4*, Jebbison 2
Subs: Baah (for Jebbison, 61) 4, Bayo (for Ince, 62) 3, Kayembe (for Sissoko, 69) 4, Larouci (for Sema , 94) NA, Vata, Louza, Morris, Ebosele, Marriott
